St. Louis Blues Seek Third Win this Season Against Nashville Predators
Can the St. Louis Blues increase their record to 3-0 this season against the division rival Nashville Predators?
The St. Louis Blues will face a tough Central Division rival, the Nashville Predators, for the third time in 2015-16, and the second time at Scottrade Center. Despite the challenge that the Preds have brought to the Blues in recent seasons–they occupied first place for nearly all of 2014-15, until losing their grip to the Blues in the season’s final weeks–they’ve fallen off a bit during 2015-16. Through 36 games, Nashville is in fifth place in the Central, currently possessing an 18-12-6 record that has earned them 42 points.
The Blues, who go into Tuesday night’s game in second place with 48 points, but nine points behind the first-place Dallas Stars, have defeated Nashville twice this season and will be looking for a third victory against the Predators. Jake Allen has been the Blues’ star against Nashville so far this season, stopping 72 of 73 Predators shots between the two games, so the Blues will be looking for him to put together a strong performance in net again on Tuesday.
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Fourth-line center Kyle Brodziak has missed the past five games while dealing with the after-effects of a skate cut, but the 31-year-old could get back in the lineup Tuesday against Nashville (ironically, the team he was injured against).
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Brodziak’s return would likely trigger the demotion of winger
Jordan Caron, who has helped the Blues to their past two victories while playing on the fourth line, to AHL Chicago, where he spent the first 25 games of this year before being recalled.
It’s a decent possibility that defenseman Joel Edmundson will get back in the lineup against Nashville. The Blues’ issue with Edmundson prior to his brief demotion earlier this month was that he had trouble getting up to speed again following a stint as a healthy scratch, so with the 22-year-old rookie having sat out for the past two contests, his inactivity probably shouldn’t be stretched out too much longer.
Robert Bortuzzo has played in the past three games and has made some noted contributions as an aggressor. After registering just one hit in 10:45 of ice time in Sunday’s game, however, he seems like the most logical candidate to come out of the lineup against the Predators.
Jake Allen will get back between the pipes after sitting in Dallas for the second end of this weekend’s back-to-back. Allen stopped 22 of 24 Stars shots on Saturday evening, blanking them in overtime and emerging as the victorious netminder in a nine-round shootout.
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Here’s how Tuesday’s lineup could look:
Magnus Paajarvi–Paul Stastny–Vladimir Tarasenko
Alexander Steen-David Backes–Troy Brouwer
Robby Fabbri–Jori Lehtera–Dmitrij Jaskin
Scottie Upshall–Kyle Brodziak–Ryan Reaves
Jay Bouwmeester–Alex Pietrangelo
Joel Edmundson–Kevin Shattenkirk